Seven African countries to start testing for COVID-19 antibodies

Seven African countries will start administering coronavirus antibody test beginning next week, a regional body stated, as part of efforts to understand the extent of the outbreak on the continent.

"Liberia, Sierra Leone, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, Nigeria, Morocco are the first set of countries that committed to it," said John Nkengasong, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, based in Addis Ababa.

Western governments are using antibody tests to find out how many of their citizens have been infected, in the hope that will help them reopen their economies.